How it Affects the Human Body

What is it?

As it’s currently understood, the endocannabinoid system or ECS is predominantly comprised of two lipid endocannabinoids called anandamide (N-arachidonoylethanolamide, AEA) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), their respective enzymes, and two cannabinoid receptors called CB1 and CB2. The ECS is part of all vertebrate animals, including humans. In fact, all animals that inherited their nervous systems from the sea squirt should have an endocannabinoid system. In humans, receptors are located in the central and peripheral nervous systems, immune system, brain, gastrointestinal system, spine, and reproductive cells.

What does it do?

Dr. Dustin Sulak of Integr8 Health had this to say about the ECS, “The endogenous cannabinoid system, named after the plant that led to its discovery, is perhaps the most important physiologic system involved in establishing and maintaining human health. Endocannabinoids and their receptors are found throughout the body: in the brain, organs, connective tissues, glands, and immune cells. In each tissue, the cannabinoid system performs different tasks, but the goal is always the same: homeostasis, the maintenance of a stable internal environment despite fluctuations in the external environment.”

As part of its role in establishing and maintaining homeostasis, the ECS regulates appetite, metabolism, stress response, immune function, pain response, sleep, thermoregulation, and memory.

This regulation varies with function, but it is well documented in the large and ever growing body of cannabis literature, and the mechanisms of action are being better understood every day. Quadratum strives to stay at the cutting edge of cannabinoid research to ensure our customers are always receiving the best products possible.